Tiger Woods’ ace at the Phoenix Open 25 years later — the bleachers shook and the beer cans flew

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It’s one of the most iconic shots in PGA Tour history, not as much for the feat itself but for the celebration that ensued.

After Tiger Woods’ hole-in-one on the par-3 16th hole on the Saturday of the 1997 Phoenix Open, there were the missed high-fives, beer showering the tee box, the raise-the-roof by Woods as he walked from tee to green and the wall of noise that lasted from the moment he hit his shot until after he picked his ball out of the cup.

That iconic ace turns 25 years this year. As the PGA Tour returns to the site, for what is now called the WM Phoenix Open (Thursday, ESPN+), we talked to more than 20 players, fans, journalists and Thunderbirds from the charitable organization that helps run the event about their memories. Together, they re-created the moments leading up to Woods’ shot, the shot itself and the celebration.

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Before the shot

Woods was paired with Omar Uresti for the third round in 1997. Both entered the day 6 under and 10 shots back from the leader, Steve Jones. They teed off at 12:22 p.m. local time on the TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

Omar Uresti: “My brother [Rusty] was caddying for me, and he told me the night before, he’s like, ‘Bro, don’t watch him swing tomorrow because it’ll get you out of your rhythm,’ because he hit it so far and had so much speed through impact.”

Rusty Uresti: “I didn’t want Omar to overswing, to stay within himself. This was back in the Tiger Woods days when he was hitting that pitching wedge 165 yards, 155 yards. I want to say Omar was hitting the driver — and a good driver — to Tiger’s 3-iron.”

Rob Myers, the owner of RM PR Group in the Phoenix area, who volunteered in the media center that year but took Saturday afternoon off to walk the course and watch some golf: “Back in that day, 16 wasn’t what it is today. Just north of the green were just a couple of…